Examining charisma in relation to students’ interest in learning

Abstract

Teachers, especially their teaching behaviours, play an important role in students’ learning and students with a high interest in learning show deeper understanding in the classroom. This study intends to explore how far the teacher’s charisma – knowledge, character traits, teaching techniques and humour – contribute to students’ interest in learning. This study found that students who perceived that their teacher had a high(er) level of charisma also perceived they had more interest in the course than students who perceived that their teacher had a low(er) level of charisma. Furthermore, students perceived that a teacher’s charisma contributed significantly to the predictor equation for their perceived interest in learning.